Not Afraid of Anything
by Sockey
Summary: So far, Hwoarang wasn't having much luck in figuring her out. Julia was a quiet, contained woman with rich brown hair and soft blue eyes; pretty without being in any way extraordinary . . . except that she obviously was. ON HIATUS
1. PART ONE

**A/N:** Hey, peoples! This is Sockey, here to explain about my PG-13 to anyone who wants to know. There is nothing explicitly bad about my story, and I could prolly have gotten away with a PG rating if I had really wanted to. However, I, brilliant genius I am, have used the PG-13 rating to attract more readers. See, most people seem to be more likely to read a story with a higher rating (sadly enough) because stories with lower ratings tend to be fluffy and boring. So what earned this story a PG-13 rating? Mostly language. Some of my characters swear a lot, but I have sensored all swear words. I don't really like it, but it makes the story way more realistic (no one is gonna convince me that Hwoarang doesn't swear . . .). There is also quite a bit SENSUALITY in it, but remember that this is a romance. There is no blatant sexuality in my stories so no worries!  
  
**Disclaimer:** Grrr . . . You know, when I become supreme ruler of the world, I won't have to write these stupid things . . . but, for now, Tekken belong to Namco. Oh, MAN! Do I have to put the song in the disclaimer??? That SUCKS. It's not like there's anyone who DOESN'T know it anyway . . . I shamelessly quote "Yesterday" by the Beatles.  
  
STORYTIME!!!

**Not Afraid of Anything  
  
by Sockey  
**  
Hwoarang watched the water as the boat steadily swayed back and forth. Many of the passengers retreated to the lower deck, but he stayed topside lounging on top of the giant, disorderly pile of suitcases, duffle bags, and backpacks. After a while, Hwoarang suddenly realized that he was bored. Therefore, he set out to dig his backpack out from the pile of luggage.  
  
Following an extensive search through the heap, Hwoarang located his pack at the very bottom of the whole pile. He dislodged many bags and suitcases in his quest and was finally able to hoist his backpack up into the dying light of day. Ha, I have defeated the heap! he thought with a minor sense of triumph. He unzipped the backpack and pulled out his portable CD player. Patiently, he untagled the cords and wrapped the headphones around his head. After he had turned the CD player on, he quickly switched it over to track thirteen.  
  
Yesterday,  
  
All my troubles seemed so far away,  
  
Now it looks as though they're here to stay,  
  
Oh, I believe in yesterday  
  
Only then did Hwoarang realize that this was the very album that Julia had bought for him nearly two years earlier just minutes before he had kissed her for the very first time. He found himself chuckling without humor at the ridiculous irony of it all. Momentary feelings of rage and helplessness overcame him, and he wanted to rip the CD out of the small player and toss it into the ocean. Yet . . . he didn't.  
  
Suddenly,  
  
I'm not half the man I used to be,  
  
There's a shadow hanging over me,  
  
Oh, yesterday came suddenly  
  
As Hwoarang allowed the song to play out, he looked out on the city that he was moving farther away from every moment. Tokyo: home to the girl of his dreams.  
  
Why she had to go,  
  
I don't know,  
  
She wouldn't say,  
  
I said something wrong,  
  
Now I long for yesterday  
  
He hadn't been trying to think about it, hadn't wanted to. He had wanted to forget his problems for once, but somehow, they all came crashing down on him. The fact that Baek was gone . . . the fact that he hadn't been the one to exact revenge on the Toshin . . . the fact that Jin Kazama had escaped . . . the fact that he had _helped_ him escape . . . the fact that he was, in fact, not perfect . . . the fact that he was human . . .the fact he had pushed Julia away . . . the fact that it had worked . . . the fact that she had kept so much of herself out of his reach . . . the fact he hadn't been able to reach her . . . the fact that he had realized that he loved her too late . . .  
  
Yesterday,  
  
Love was such an easy game to play,  
  
Now I need a place to hide away,  
  
Oh, I believe in yesterday  
  
Hwoarang's thoughts lazily drifted over to Julia. Her image was clearly cemented in his mind. He could see her eyes, crackling with dry, laconic wit, the way her silky brown hair carelessly fell over her shoulders. She had always been so d--- sexy without even trying. He could remember so many times when she had talked endlessly for hours without really saying anything . . . and times when she had said things without speaking a single word. He could still feel the way she would ever-so-casually slip her hand into his . . .**This is Sockey reminding you to please review! :-D**


	2. Welcome to Laconia

TWO AND A HALF YEARS EARLIER . . .  
  
Hwoarang impatiently waited for the plane to arrive.  
  
For some unknown and probably illconcieved reason, Baek had made arrangments with an old friend of his, Michelle Chang, to have her daughter shipped off to live in Korea with them for a year to attend school and "observe the culture". Apparently, Julia, Michelle's daughter, had been born and raised on an Indian reservation in Arizona, but Michelle had married a white American in recent years who had moved them off of the reservation. To hear Michelle tell it, Julia was a f---ing genius who had been taking Korean language courses practically since birth but was yet to have any "practical application" for her mad skills. Hence, she was using her handy-dandy Korean contacts as an excuse to get her teenager out of her hair for a whole year, cleverly disguising it as a learning experience.  
  
Patience may have been a virtue, but impatience was faster. It wasn't long before the plane landed and the passengers began to exit the plane. Hwoarang knew it was her from the picture that Michelle had sent them. The picture hadn't done her justice. It hadn't been a particularily bad picture, but she was much prettier in real life. Her thick, stick-straight brown hair was evenly parted, falling flat across her face and shoulders, ending somewhere halfway down her back. She wore a basic white T-shirt printed with some indistinguishable red and black logo, some old carpenter jeans, and a pair of grubby white sneakers with the laces left untied. A simple shot-bead necklace ornamented her neck and her sharp blue eyes were enhanced by a pair of glasses with thick, black, rectangular lenses. Her shoulders were burdened with a large black duffle bag and her hands were jammed into her pockets. She looked about herself with uncertainty.  
  
When Julia spotted them, Baek gave her a slight wave, and she headed toward where they were standing. "You must be Baek," she said in perfect Korean, sticking out her hand and smiling enigmatically. She was even prettier when she smiled. Baek took her hand hand and shook it firmly.  
  
"And you must be Miss Julia," he answered, returning her smile. Julia shifted her gaze over to Hwoarang. Her penetrating expression caught him off-gaurd.  
  
"And who is this?" she queried, tilting her head slightly.  
  
"This is my son Hwoarang," replied Baek, putting a hand on Hwoarang's shoulder.  
  
"Hi," was all that Hwoarang said, and flatly at that. Julia's smile just sort of fizzled off and died somewhere. This made Hwoarang wish that he hadn't been so cool towards her.  
  
"Well . . . we should probably get going," suggested Baek, who suspected that it would probably be wise to break up this little lovefest.  
  
"Yeah," was all that Julia said in response.  
  
After they had walked for a little bit, Julia seemed to brighten up a bit. "So, I would've been here a few days earlier, but Mom and my grandmother, they were absolutely insistent that I celebrate my sixteenth birthday at home with them so . . ."  
  
"Really? When is your bithday?" asked Baek with only mild interest.  
  
"Two days ago; August first."  
  
"That's my birthday!" cried Hwoarang.  
  
"That's interesting," Baek commented dryly.  
  
"That makes me exactly one year older than you."  
  
"It sure does," agreed Julia, rolling her eyes. She did not like Hwoarang that much. "I seem to know a lot of people who are born in August," continued Julia, who seemed to enjoy talking, "Most of my friends are, but, of course, while they're all getting cars for their sixteenth birthdays, my dad buys me clothes for my birthday!"  
  
"What a travesty," muttered Hwoarang.  
  
"So he is your real dad, then?"  
  
"Well . . . I don't know my _dad_ dad. I'm adopted . . . so this new guy's good enough, I suppose."  
  
Baek silently wondered if this was how all adopted children felt, more importantly, how Hwoarang felt. He hoped not. From what little information he had gleaned from Hwoarang, his birth father hadn't exactly been a role model.  
  
Julia continued to speak. "As long as I do my chores and don't break curfew or anything like that, he's cool. He's funny, too, which is always good . . . Then, of course, there's my grandmother, who is under the impression that all teenagers have to be kept under close guard and punished preemptively or they _will_ screw up their lives, as well as yours." Baek chuckled at that.  
  
"Yes, well, that does seem to be true of _some_ teenagers . . ." Baek mused, sending a sidelong glance in Hwoarang's direction. Hwoarang remained silent.  
  
Julia kept on filling the air with mindless chatter. It was relaxing in a way . . . He hated to admit it, but Hwoarang was actually enjoying it. He was never one to talk that much so having her around helped ease those awkward silences.

------

As they drove to Baek's dojang, the car was quiet. In contrast to the talkative person she had been at the airport, Julia now seemed very withdrawn. She listlessly stared out of the window, watching the city pass by. She could feel Hwoarang's stare boring into her. What the f--- was his problem??? She _really_ didn't like him.  
  
Well, maybe she like him a little bit.

------

That night, Hwoarang walked into the bathroom and found Julia brushing her teeth. Man, it was sure going to be weird having another person around the house. Especially one who talked as much as this particular creature did. He stood in the doorway and watched her with interest. She kept sending annoyed glances his way, but he paid her no heed. Finally, she finished. "It's official," Hwoarang reported. "Everyone looks ugly when they brush they're teeth . . . even someone as pretty as you." Her jaw dropped.  
  
"Are you flirting with me???"  
  
"Nope, sorry. Must've been your imagination," he answered, winking at her. She blinked her eyes a few times.  
  
"Great. You're like the mean older brother I never had gone . . . terribly wrong." Hwoarang laughed as he applied toothpaste to his toothbrush. Fuming, Julia started to stomp out of the room.  
  
"Hey, wait." She slowly turned back around to face him. "Listen, sorry for picking on you. That was kind of my really lame attempt at making you feel more comfortable. I know it must be hard, being shipped off to a foreign country." Julia smiled at him.  
  
"You're right," agreed Julia, ". . . that was really lame." That one made both of them laugh. "But . . . um . . . thanks for trying."  
  
"Anytime," answered Hwoarang, saluting her. She laughed again, shaking her head.  
  
"I think I'm gonna like you. Sweet dreams." Hwoarang watched her walk down the hall and disappear into her bedroom.  
  
Maybe having her around wasn't going to be so bad.  
  
**This is Sockey reminding you to please review! :-D**


	3. Casper

**Warning:** This scene features underage drinking.  
  
Hwoarang tramped down the stairs and headed for the door, whistling and twirling his keys on his fingers. As he passed by the entryway room, he spotted Julia curled up on the couch with a book and had an idea. "Hey, Julia!" She looked up. "My friends and I are gonna meet up at the beach. Wanna come?"  
  
"Hwoarang, I don't want you to feel obligated to be nice to me if you don't want to."  
  
"Oh, good," Hwoarang said in relief, causing Julia to glare at him, ". . . 'cause I want to." Julia laughed. "Besides, I want you to meet my crew. Come on! It'll be fun!" Julia sighed.  
  
"Alright," she consented, "Just let me get my stuff." She dog-eared her book and set it on the coffee table. She stood and quickly scampered up the stairs. Five minutes later, she came back down wearing a completely different outfit, plus sunglasses, and carrying a bag packed full of stuff. "Ready to go?"  
  
"Sure am, Ms. Quick-Change Artist," Hwoarang responded in wonder.  
  
"That's me," Julia jibed playfully.  
  
"Let's roll." Roll they did, climbing into Hwoarang's car and speeding all the way to the beach. It was a beautiful day, the sun deciding to favor its last few days of freedom.  
  
They drove around the parking lot in circles for about five minutes before they actually found a spot to park in. They jumped out of the car, and Hwoarang led Julia to where a convertible Jeep with its top down which had to be illegally parked, surrounded by a large group of teenagers who could not have possibly all have fit into said Jeep, was stationed. One of the guys called out to them.  
  
"Hey, Hwoarang! Where you been, man???"  
  
"Oh, come on, Byong! It's not like you guys couldn't start without me! It's just water; it won't bite, I swear."  
  
"You wish! Where's our booze???" chimed in a second guy who seemed to be of a somewhat lesser intelligence than the first. Hwoarang tossed his keys to the guy.  
  
"'T's in the trunk." With the guy (who, Julia later found out, was named "Tetsuya") gone, the whole congregation started to move towards the water except for a prickly-looking girl with lifeless black hair and mismatched eyes.

"Come on, Pipe!" summoned a girl with green streaks in her hair. Pipe simply waited for Tetsuya to return.  
  
"Everyone, STOP!" shouted Hwoarang in an almighty, commanding voice. Julia found it simply miraculous how every single one of them stopped what they were doing and turned back to Hwoarang. Even Tetsuya, who had been greedily unloading Hwoarang's trunk full of beer, stopped what he was doing to look at Hwoarang curiously. Hwoarang smiled slightly, relishing his power. "Everyone, this," he said, motioning toward Julia, "is Julia. Julia, this is everyone."  
  
"Well, then," she said, raising her hand in a slight wave. She removed her sunglasses and stuffed them in her bag. An echo of greeting ensued his less- than-helpful introduction. Tetsuya mozied up, carrying an already-opened can of beer. "'Julia'? Your name has too many syllables."  
  
"Tetsuya, you couldn't spell 'syllables'."  
  
"Let's see _you_ do it, Hwoarang," challenged Tetsuya. Hwoarang sighed.  
  
"S-Y-L-L-A-B-L-E-S, syllables," Hwoarang recited with lightning speed. Tetsuya growled. Hwoarang smirked.  
  
"Oh, don't be so cocky, Mr. I-won-every-spelling-bee-in-elementary-school!"  
  
"When are you going to stop forgetting that Hwoarang is a bonafide genius?" asked a plain-looking girl who had snuck up behind Tetsuya and wrapped her arms around his neck, slightly strangling him.  
  
"You can stop worshipping him now, Aiko," Pipe snarled icily.  
  
"Back to my _original_ point," directed Tetsuya, who had managed to remove Aiko from his neck.  
  
"You had one?"  
  
"A_hem_! Back to my original point!" Tetsuya restated louder, glaring at Aiko. "Your name is too long. We should just call you J . . ." He turned to Hwoarang. "What's her last name?"  
  
"Good question. What's your last name?"  
  
"Uh, Chang."  
  
"'Chang'??? That's perfect! We'll call you J.C.!"  
  
"'J.C.'? Are you kidding me??? That's a horribly uncreative, lame excuse for a nickname, if you ask me," Julia replied in disdainful indignation. Tetsuya (and the rest of his posse) was taken aback. Not being one to stand for being called "horribly uncreative", Tetsuya shot back:  
  
"Let's see _you_ come up with something better!"  
  
"Oh, but coming up with your own nickname is no fun!" protested Julia.  
  
"Ha! You're just not creative enough!" accused Tetsuya. "You've left me no other choice. Nuna!" From the beach, a skinny girl came running. Stopping short and standing at attention, she answered:  
  
"Yes?" She was pretty, but her hair left something to be desired. It looked like it had been an ugly strawberry blonde, but she had tried to dye it gray by splashing black ink in it.  
  
Tetsuya put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. "_This_ is my girlfriend," Tetsuya gloated, showing her off like a trophy.  
  
"And your dog," muttered Aiko who was glowering at them.  
  
"In any case," Tetsuya continued, completely ignoring Aiko, "Nuna, what do you think her name should be?"  
  
"Casper!" Nuna instantly exclaimed.  
  
"Casper it is!" Before Julia could say a word of either confirmation or disapproval, Nuna ambushed her.  
  
"Hi, Casper! My name's Katrina, although these guys mostly all call me Nuna, and I'm, um, not exactly sure why, but Tetsuya just has this thing about renaming people with long or boring names so I would just go with it 'cause, as far as he's concerned, your name _is_ Casper now so, like, everyone's gonna be calling you that, but it's not that bad once you get used to it 'cause, I mean, it's just a name, and it could be worse 'cause, I mean, Casper isn't that bad, right?"  
  
"No way! Casper the Ghost was, like, my favorite cartoon when I was a kid anyway, and, you're right, it could be so much worse 'cause, oh, my gosh, did you hear what he wanted to call me before you came? J.C.! I mean, what kind of a name is 'J.C.'??? It's okay, though, 'cause, I mean, you people seem alright and pretty fun to hang with and s--- so . . . yeah."  
  
"So you came from America, neh? That is really cool, I mean, I lived there a couple times, and it was really fun 'cause, like, me and my parents moved around a lot, but when we came to Korea I kinda got integrated into the gang, and I seriously didn't wanna leave, and, like, it was super cool because the Doo Sus, you know, Tetsuya's parents, they offered to take me in, and that was so awesome of them 'cause, I mean, they already had four kids of their own, plus, they had already taken Byong and Kieran in so it was totally packed, but I love it, and they're really nice so it isn't that bad, and . . ."  
  
As the two talked animatedly, they headed for the beach. Once they had made it past the concrete parking lot and the sidewalk and the patch of prickly grass and started walking on the smooth white sand, Julia broke away and did two cartwheels and a round-off. "You are _such_ a little show-off!" cried an astounded Katrina. Julia began laughing hysterically and started running for the beachiest part of the beach. "Hey, wait up!" Katrina called to Julia, running after her.  
  
The giggling girls finally stopped to catch their breath. "Hey, Mok! Aren't ya' gonna go in the water?" Mok, an attractive girl with dyed bronze hair, was lying on a towel and appeared to be tanning herself. She looked up.  
  
"Maybe later," she sighed, giving the impression that she probably wouldn't, but she did not wish to have Katrina bug her about it.  
  
Julia pulled a towel out of her bag and laid it in the sand, next to Mok. She set down her bag on the towel and pulled her jeans and T-shirt off, revealing a skimpy tye-dye bikini. She left her clothes in a heap and flew towards the water.  
  
Soon, she and the other girls were laughing and splashing and swimming around in the subzero water, having the time of their lives.  
  
Hwoarang, Byong, and Tetsuya, who, through their combined efforts, had finally managed to drag the huge ice chest full of beer all the way from Hwoarang's trunk to their little encampment on the beach, were now lazily sitting on the beach, drinking beer, and idly watching the girls' fun.  
  
"Dude, that Casper chick is hot," commented Tetsuya. "She's a pill . . . but she's hot. How long's it gonna take you to get _that_ one into bed?"  
  
"What are you talking about?" Hwoarang replied defensively .  
  
"Oh, come on, man! You cannot tell me that you haven't even thought about it!"  
  
"Whatever, man. Not _everything_ is about sex, you know. Most things . . . but not everything. Julia and I are just friends."  
  
"Sure you are," Tetsuya retorted slyly. He waited for about thirty seconds, until he saw that look of consternation come over Hwoarang's face. "It's eating you alive, isn't it?"  
  
"Now that _you_ said something!"  
  
"Dude, you should totally go for it! I mean, the babe is already _living_ with you, your battle's half won!"  
  
"Shut up, Tetsuya," interjected Byong. "You know Hwoarang's never done it before."  
  
"You shut up, Byong! I still haven't forgiven you for f---ing around with my sister!"  
  
"After we'd been dating for three years! And what about you??? Maybe I still haven't forgiven you for f---ing around with my sister when you already have a girlfriend!" Ignoring Byong, Tetsuya turned back to Hwoarang.  
  
"Man, if you're not gonna go for it, maybe--"  
  
"Don't even think about it," Hwoarang ordered. The conversation pretty much ended there.  
  
About five minutes later, another car came rolling up, honking its horn obnoxiously. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to watch the vehicle. The driver had slick, obviously bleached hair that made him look smug and would-be impressive. To contrast this, a skinny guy with glasses and hair that stuck up sat next to him in the passenger seat. The moment that the car stopped, a wild, redheaded girl lunged from the car and loped all the way to the water. She lay down in the sand, right where the waves would lap against her, stuck out her hands and feet, and twiddled her fingers, crying: "Look! I'm Fish Girl!"  
  
Julia leaned in towards Kieran, who's hair had been curly until Katrina had dunked her under the water several times. "Who is that?" she whispered, indicating towards the redhead.  
  
"Who? Crazy Kori? That's Hwoarang's sister," Kieran answered conspiritorially.  
  
"Really??? No one ever said anything about Hwoarang having a sister."  
  
"Yeah, well, that's not surprising . . . He doesn't like to talk about her . . . She went bonkers years ago . . . Lives in a mental institution . . . Some kind of psychopath genius . . ."  
  
While Kieran continued to shamelessly gossip about Kori, Hwoarang and the guys went to meet the newcomers. "Jie Wen!"  
  
"Hey, guys. Why'd ya' start the party without me?"  
  
"You're late!" shouted Byong.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, keep your shirt on," muttered Jie Wen, rolling his eyes. "We would've been on time if Yuhi here hadn't been going obsessive/compulsive over sunscreen."  
  
"If you wanna get sunburnt, that's your business, but I prefer _not_ to be a red, rubber ball."  
  
"And, by the way," added Jie Wen, who chose not to respond to Yuhi's logic, "Who designated us to pick up Sister Psycho?"  
  
"Sorry, guys," excused Hwoarang. "I probably should've done that . . ."  
  
Suddenly, they heard someone shriek: "J.D.!!!" All five of them twisted to see Katrina scamper out of the water as fast as her little feet could carry her and fly into Jie Wen's arms.  
  
"Hey, Nuna." Tetsuya's glared disapprovingly at them while Jie Wen gave him a self-satisfied smile.  
  
There was only one person that Katrina was more loyal to than Tetsuya, and that was his little brother Jie Wen.

------

The rest of the day passed in relative harmony, as harmonious as you get with a large group of teenagers partying at the beach. Julia seemed to fit in right along with the rest of them. She was exceptionally talkative with everybody, and everybody seemed to accept her into their group.  
  
The gang slowly began to break up and go home some time late in the evening. As Hwoarang and Julia drove back to the dojang, Julia was again uncharacteristically silent. However, she seemed very contented and peaceful, not wary and axious like the day before. Hwoarang found the combination of her long strings of mindless chatter and these peculiar silent stretches to be quite interesting.  
  
Or quite charming. He wasn't sure which.


	4. Escaping the Box

**A/N:** Hello again, peoples! This is Sockey, and I just want to apologize for not posting in a while. Between a spur-of-the-moment road trip to Spokane (five hours locked in a car with my brother . . . death . . .), finishing up finals at school, and cleaning my room (and sleep, can't forget about sleep . . .), I really haven't had all that much time to be writing (but I've thinking about it, I swear I have!). I would just like to take time out to thank **x1nfernal** for faithfully reading and reviewing my story. It really encourages me to get on it and keep posting. As long as I'm making one person happy, I'll keep posting.  
  
**Back to the story . . .**  
  
It had been a couple of weeks since Julia's arrival, and she had effectively become a part of their lives. Hwoarang had allowed her to continue tagging along with him on expeditions, adventures, and escapades with his friends, who had grew to be her friends as well. He had noticed, though, that she still managed to isolate herself somewhat, not clinging to any particular one of them and not being especially participatory beyond idle conversation. He supposed that she was like him in that respect. He enjoyed watching from above. Hwoarang knew that Julia was still wary of him, of all of them. She still didn't feel like she belonged.  
  
On that day, they had had another excursion at the beach . . .  
  
_"Hwoarang, come join me!" called Byong, who was floating on a large, keg- sized, plastic jug they had found on the beach and paddling with a very big stick.  
  
"That'll be the day," muttered Hwoarang, who was standing on the shore, watching Byong with mild amusement.  
  
"Hey, guys! I found another one!" shouted Tetsuya, carrying a second jug he found further down on the beach. Just then, Jie Wen came down the beach.  
  
"Look what I found." It appeared to be old, ripped-up pieces of black tarp. Already, the wheels in Hwoarang's head had been turning.  
  
"Guys, I think we can build a raft."  
  
"A raft???"  
  
"Yeah, a raft! Let's do it!" So the big, strong men set out to build a raft. In the meantime, they were calling quite a crowd. Julia watched them, enjoying the brave, industrious, possibly very foolish endeavors that men always seemed to set their sights on accomplishing.  
  
"You know, this is what makes men great," she commented to no one in particular. Mok, who was near enough to hear her, gave her an odd little smile.  
  
"Hmmm . . . maybe."  
  
"It's what makes them idiots," asserted Satsumi, joining their conversation.  
  
"Well, it makes them interesting," amended Julia, still believing that it made them great, even if they were idiots . . .  
_  
It had ended up with Byong falling into the water, soaking him to the bone, and Hwoarang almost suffering the same fate. He had fallen part of the way into the water, completely drenching his board shorts. The remaining crewmen had quickly paddled the raft back to shore, abandoning their fallen comrades. Hwoarang seeked sanctuary, climbing on top of a giant tire that was embedded in the sand and water somewhere close to shore. Hwoarang stood on top of it triumphantly, managing to keep his balance. Everyone on shore was calling for Byong to: "Push him off! Push him off!" Luckily, though, Byong was too prudent to risk incurring Hwoarang's wrath. The two ship- wrecked sailors finally did make it back to shore. Neither ventured out to the water after that.  
  
It was now around ten at night. Julia had been locked in her room for about three hours. Hwoarang knew this because the only thing that separated him bedroom from Julia's was a curtain. He assumed that she was asleep. It _had_ been a rather tiring day. Hwoarang was lying on his bed, but he was restless.  
  
Making up his mind, Hwoarang grabbed his phone from out of his pocket and dialed a number that was very familiar to him by now. It was picked up on the second ring. "Yeah?"  
  
"Hey, Joey. How many of you guys are around?"  
  
"Enough."  
  
"So you guys up to a sucker match tonight?" It was a term that either he or Joey had coined a few years back. Nobody could remember who came up with it originally, and they had spent many a drunken stupor arguing over who had first said "sucker match".  
  
"Always." The succinct answer was given with a hint of relish.  
  
"Excellent. See you in a few."  
  
"Later." Hwoarang hung up. After a few moments of searching around under his bed, Hwoarang found the already made chain of clothing items and the like he used on a regular basis to climb in and out of his window undetected. He quickly stuck the loop part around one of his bedposts, then quietly opened his bedroom window and threw the other end outside. Then, he climbed into the window frame and began to scale down the side of the building.  
  
------  
  
Yes, there it was. Julia could definitely hear the sound of Hwoarang's feet thumping on the grass outside of his window. She hastily pulled on her leather jacket, pushed back the curtain, and ran to his window. He was already halfway down the street so she swiftly and silently made good use of his chain and chased after him. She knew that following him unnoticed would be a piece of cake for her.  
  
This was around the third time that Hwoarang had snuck out of his window to meet up with some guy named "Joey", and Julia was just curious enough to find out what that was all about.  
  
About three-quarters of the way there, Hwoarang ran into a small alleyway and came roaring out riding a shiny red motorcycle. Even then, it was still relatively easy for Julia to track him.  
  
She was that good.  
  
------  
  
By the time that Hwoarang arrived at the bar, Joey had already scouted out their next "customers" (basically, _suckers_). It was one of the local biker gangs. Those idiots, they never learned. Like usual, Hwoarang had Jessica, the most sweet and innocent-looking of them all, go up and taunt the other gang until they were really pissed off. Since all of the other gang leaders had bricks for brains, they immediately wanted to challenge Hwoarang's gang to a fight. Coolly, Hwoarang sauntered over to the rival gang leader and dared him to place some good money on the fight. The idiots agreed without much persuasion. He flashed them a cocky grin and shook their clammy, dirty paws. "Things I do," he murmured under his breath.  
  
The fight was held on the street in front of the bar. Not the best neighborhood, surrounding residents were used to these kinds of things happening in the middle of the night while they were trying to sleep.  
  
They agreed to hold the fight in duel-style, one-on-one matches. It was always four of Hwoarang's weakest fighters versus four of the other gangs strongest. Hwoarang's team members lost, he made sure of that. Even the weakest members of Hwoarang's team were more than a match for their rivals so it was easy for them to lose convincingly without getting severely injured. Besides, the entire rival gang was stinking drunk anyway.  
  
When the matches were over, Hwoarang pretended to be intimidated by the rival gang leader and begged him to have a final match, using the line: "Double or nothing?" in a believably nervous tone of voice. The suckers swallowed the act whole. Their mistake.  
  
For the final match, their strongest (but certainly not smartest) stepped out. Good, good. Hwoarang liked that. The bigger they were, the harder they fell. When questioned as to which person would fight in the final round, Hwoarang jabbed his chest with his thumb and smiled crookedly. The other gang laughed their heads off. "A skinny twerp like you??? He's f---ing twice your size!"  
  
"You wanna quadruple the bet?" challenged Hwoarang, defiant now. Of course, the foolish b------s agreed. Using the most rudimentary of his skills, Hwoarang pummeled the foolish dunderbrick with almost bore-inducing ease. Enraged, other members of the rival gang ran out to fight him. Hwoarang trashed every last one of them without raising a sweat. Inwardly, Hwoarang smiled every time he heard a nose cracking or a worn out body hitting something hard. He always did like a workout.  
  
------  
  
When Hwoarang returned to the alley where he had stashed his bike, he was more than a little shocked to find Julia waiting for him there. "Hey. Can I catch a ride home?" she requested nonchalantly. Angry welled up inside oh him, but he squashed it. As much as he felt that his privacy had been invaded, almost unforgivably so, he knew that being angry with her would not make his life any easier. Therefore, all he said was a hollow: "Yeah . . . okay."  
  
------  
  
Hwoarang was awoken by a hard punch to his arm. "Scoot." He did. In the darkness, Hwoarang could see Julia hop onto his bed wearing a simple sleepshirt and her hair pulled up into a messy ponytail. She lie down on her stomach, folding her arms under her face. "Couldn't sleep," she explained after a minute. "Now I know what you do when you're restless, but, sadly, I have no such outlets." Her tone was conversational yet cautious. Hwoarang hadn't been outwardly mad at her on the whole way back, but she had gotten the distinct impression that he was absolutely furious. Warily, she ventured: "Hwoarang . . . how mad are you at me?"  
  
Hwoarang didn't answer her for a long time. She was beginning to think he wasn't going to say anything when he finally gave her a slow reply. "When I was kid, I found out that I had some very interesting skills, skills that wouldn't be very applicable to a normal occupation."  
  
"Such as?" Julia was expecting him to say something like beating people up, but his answer was much more complex.  
  
"Such as the ability to reinvent myself whenever I had to." He paused a moment before continuing. "So I would go to school and be popular, then I'd come home and play with the trailer trash from down the street. Seriously . . . I think Jessica was the first girl I ever kissed." Julia smiled.  
  
"That's sweet."  
  
"Yeah, anyway, all of these things, like trips to the beach and s--- like that . . . that's my way of connecting with my friends like Tetsuya and Byong . . . But all of those people in my little fraud team . . . they're all like me. Rebels. Orphans. People without a home. Tough cookies. People who enjoy the thrills of fighting. These fixed matches are my way of connecting with _them_." Hwoarang blew out his breath. He hadn't meant to tell all of this to Julia, of all people, but somehow he knew, he knew that he could trust her. The words seemed to come on their own anyway, and nevermind what the Hell he thought. "For . . . all of my life, I've always been able to keep those two . . . compartments . . . of my life completely separate. I figured that it would be the same with you. I tried to fit you into one place, but when you spied on me tonight . . . you escaped the box, Julia." He sighed. "I know I sound crazy."  
  
"Not really," she mumbled, beginning to fall asleep. Neither of them spoke again.  
  
Something strange happened that night. Julia was no longer an outsider warily accepting courtesies nor was Hwoarang simply offering obligatory kindnesses. They were friends.  
  
**Okay, you know the drill. Please read and review! :-D**


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